Grinch Stole Christmas As US Retailers Suffer Worst Holiday Season Since ’09

With the exception of a few bright spots, such as Costco Wholesale Corp., the downbeat forecasts for the holiday season have turned out to be a prophecy fulfilled.

A slew of retailers across a wide variety of industry segments, including American Eagle Outfitters Inc., Victoria’s Secret parent L Brands Inc., Pier 1 Imports Inc. , Family Dollar Stores Inc., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and Hhgregg , have given disappointing forecasts for the quarter after ringing up disappointing holiday-season sales.

American Eagle said strong traffic and sales over the Thanksgiving weekend were not sustained, with results through Christmas week missing internal expectations and forcing the chain to offer profit-eroding discounts.

A late surge in shopping in the week ended Dec. 28 also failed to stop industrywide holiday sales from seeing their slowest growth since 2009.

MarketWatch

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Mingze Wu

Mingze Wu

Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Based in Singapore, Mingze Wu focuses on trading strategies and technical and fundamental analysis of major currency pairs. He has extensive trading experience across different asset classes and is well-versed in global market fundamentals. In addition to contributing articles to MarketPulseFX, Mingze centers on forex and macro-economic trends impacting the Asia Pacific region.
Mingze Wu